The subject matter disclosed herein relates to engine inlets, more specifically, to installation of engine inlet ducts and/or cowling.
Engines for, for example, aircraft such as helicopters or other rotorcraft utilize engine inlet ducting to direct airflow into the compressor of the engine. Some systems, for example, single engine systems, utilize a bifurcated inlet duct, which takes two airflow streams and directs them to the compressor inlet. The duct extends from an inlet located at a portion of the airframe such as the main rotor pylon (MRP) and extends through the MRP and airframe to an engine inlet at the engine front frame. The duct is typically secured directly and rigidly to the engine front frame at the duct outlet, and secured to the inlet at the MRP. Secured at each end, the inlet duct is held rigidly in place.
In some aircraft, however, the duct length is quite long making installation of the duct difficult due to manufacturing and assembly tolerance stackups between the engine front frame, the MRP and the inlet duct. Further, in some configurations, the inlet duct installation points may be inaccessible.